Shariah Court To Rule On Feb 25 If Maria Chin Is Guilty Of Contempt

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Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah reportedly said that the shariah legal system was still discriminatory against Muslim women.KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah, who got into trouble for criticising the Shariah Court’s decision to jail the ex-wife of Naza Group chairman SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin, will know if she is in contempt on Feb 25
The Shariah High Court today ordered her to file her defence in response to the businessman having obtained an ex-parte order that Maria’s statement last year had brought down the reputation of the religious court
Judge Mohamed Fouzi Mokhtar then fixed Feb 25 to deliver his ruling
Earlier today, Faisal’s lawyers Sulaiman Abdullah, Mohd Rafie Shafie and Akberdin Abdul Kader insisted that Fouzi deliver his verdict on whether Maria was in contempt
They insisted that Maria should not be allowed to make any application until she purged her contempt charge
In a Sept 5 statement, Maria had referred to Emilia Hanafi’s seven-day jail sentence and reportedly said that the shariah legal system was still discriminatory against Muslim women
Lawyer Rosli Dahlan submitted today that the proceeding against his client was null and void as it was in breach of the Syariah Court Civil Procedure (Federal Territories) Act 1998 and the Rules of Court 2012
Rosli, who was assisted by Nurul Hafidzah Hassan and Zeti Zulkifli, said the ex-parte order was defective and should be set aside
Fouzi, however, dismissed Rosli’s application to set aside the contempt proceedings as he had no power to do so
He also dismissed Rosli’s application to stay the proceedings pending appeal, saying he did not have the power to do so in this aspect too
Fouzi then fixed the matter for decision on Feb 25 pending the filing of defence by Maria even though she said that the show cause order was improperly obtained
On Oct 14, Fouzi had said Maria’s statement had brought down the reputation of the religious court
Emilia was sentenced to seven days’jail on Sept 4 for unilaterally rescheduling visitation dates for her children to be with their father
She is out on RM5,000 bail pending an appeal to the Shariah Court of Appeal

The couple divorced in 2016, with Emilia maintaining full custody of their three children, Fawwaz, Faiz and Farhan, and Faisal given visitation rights. - FMT

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